Interesting Tool History - The rise, decline, and fall of Delta, Porter-Cable, and Craftsman tools

[kmealy]

 

[Grandpadave52]

Thanks Keith. Beat me to the post by a couple hours. Just watched it. Quite educating. Good thread!

[Larry Buskirk]

Yep sell out to the highest bidder, make it somewhere else, raise the prices while lowering the quality, then wonder why consumers quit buying.

It's not just tools either. 

[JimM]

3 hours ago, Larry Buskirk said:

It's not just tools either.

So true.  No more Oreos for me.  I don't care for that Mexican seasoning.

[Gene Howe]

Just read that Hershey won't be able to meet the demand for their sweets...kisses??? this coming Christmas season. 

[kmealy]

I'll have to say the first tool I ever bought was a Craftsman 3/8" socket set.   I later bought a Unisaw after giving up on a Craftsman RAS and small Rockwell table saw (good decision).   The first router I bought was a PC 390; it was my only router for 25 years.  Well, I did get a B&D router, but it burned out after a couple of years and nearly ruined a few pieces when the bit slipped.    All have served me well and still used regularly.

 

I roll my eyes when I hear someone say (and they still do)  "Buy Craftsman, they are the best."   I worked for Sears (actually Allstate subsidiary) back in the '70s.   I could tell Craftsman tools were already slipping in quality, at first the portable power tools.  They seemed to jump between OEMs to save costs and then parts were nowhere to be found.   Nowadays, about everyone has lifetime warranty on hand tools, even HF.

 

I really got upset with Sears after many years of avoiding them.   I needed some staples for a staple gun, which I now know as a very common T-50. I took the gun in.  The first person saw me coming and ducked into the back room. I asked the clerk at the cash register where I could find them and the answer I got was something like waving his hand, "I think they are over there, maybe 3 or 4 aisles."    I found the section with staples and couldn't really tell what would fit.  So I grabbed another employee walking by and asked what would fit.  He stood there for a minute and couldn't tell, then said something like, "You'll just have to look."   Next thing I know he was gone.  On the way out I passed the garden tool department and two guys were standing around a lawn mower.  One of them said, "Boy, I don't know why no one shops here any more."    It took all my resistance not to tell them why.

 

In the last couple years, I have gotten a couple of vintage Craftsman routers for free or $5.  I thought I could put them in my router table.  Well, the holes to mount the base plate don't line up and even worse, you can't just pop out the motor from the base to change bits, so it's a hassle to use.  They now mostly sit in a drawer.

Edited July 31, 2022 by kmealy

[Gene Howe]

I've never owned a Craftsman power tool I did own a Montgomery Ward sander, though. 

[Al B]

Better order those candy kisses early for those X-mas trees.

Edited July 31, 2022 by Al B

[Al B]

Still have my older Craftsman 3/8" power drill and my older Craftsman free standing drill press.  Both still work great. Also have my Craftsman wrenches and socket sets which I've had for years,

[Fred W. Hargis Jr]

There was a time in the late 60s/early 70s where if I needed a tool, I'd pull out the sears tool catalog, found what i was after and then went to sears to get it. At that time I considered craftsman at least the equal of most of tools available at the time, at least for a DIY'er. But things started going downhill (or I was completely wrong in my earlier assessment) and they fell off my acquisition list, except for the mechanics tools; their sockets, wrenches, pliers, and so on I still felt were the equal of most of the stuff available...and a heck of a lot cheaper. Now, while I still have the mechanics tools, everything else died a painful death and was replaced by the names we commonly see today.

[HandyDan]

I still have most of the Craftsman tools I bought.  They have served me well.

 

Edited August 1, 2022 by HandyDan

[HandyDan]

23 hours ago, Gene Howe said:

Just read that Hershey won't be able to meet the demand for their sweets...kisses??? this coming Christmas season. 

 

 

[HARO50]

On 8/1/2022 at 11:18 AM, HandyDan said:

I still have most of the Craftsman tools I bought.  They have served me well.

 

My Craftsman router, purchased in 1973, died two years ago. I found another one at a "cutting back" sale that may be a year or two older, but works like new. Still have a sander, ROS, 3/8" drill, belt sander, electric staple gun, and radial arm saw, all dating back to about the same time, and all in excellent working condition! Did I mention they're all "Made In USA", with the exception of the ROS, which (I believe) is a re-branded Ryobi.

   CORRECTION! Just checked... the ROS is also made in the USA!

Edited August 2, 2022 by HARO50

[Larry Buskirk]

On 7/31/2022 at 7:48 AM, Larry Buskirk said:

It's not just tools either. 

 

Former coworker told dealer to keep the 2022 Ram he's now had in for the fifth time due to the instrument display cutting out. They've replaced it four times. Of course they tried getting him to keep it, or trade. He told them he had his attorney file the paperwork for our states "Lemon Law" and to keep it. They've had it more time than he did for the past year.